Ethereum-L2 Rivals Clash Over Wallet Standards
Ethereum's layer-2 (L2) blockchains are maturing into networks with their own users, commercial priorities, and development schedules, exposing a structural problem that could become harder to contain.
A collaboration between Ethereum and Coinbase-backed layer-2 network Base has broken down over how the next generation of crypto wallets should work. The split leaves Ethereum advancing Frames while Base pursues a separate design for native account abstraction.
Both proposals aim to make wallets more programmable, supporting features such as gas sponsorship, passkeys, and flexible authentication. However, the disagreement emerged over how much freedom the protocol should give accounts and how much structure chains should impose on transactions before they execute.
Ethereum core developer Matt Garnett said divergence among L2s was inevitable due to market competition forcing them to introduce features more rapidly than Ethereum L1 can.